Seat the capital in a basin closed by mountains: a guardian mountain behind (north), a lower range on the left (east) as the Azure Dragon and on the right (west) as the White Tiger, a facing hill in front (south); let a stream cross the basin and a great river flow beyond.
Bugaksan (behind) · Naksan (left, Azure Dragon) · Inwangsan (right, White Tiger) · Namsan (in front) · Cheonggyecheon within, the Han River without
Pungsu (Chinese fengshui, “wind and water”) teaches that the vital energy of the earth runs along mountain ridges, gathers where hills enclose a basin, and is held there by water. After founding Joseon in 1392 King Taejo had several sites surveyed before choosing Hanyang in 1394: its four inner mountains closed it on every side, the Cheonggye stream ran through it from west to east, and the Han River flowed round it to the south in the opposite direction, a pairing of inner and outer waters that the geomancers prized.
The palace of Gyeongbokgung was set directly under Bugaksan, facing south down the basin toward Namsan. The town reduces the site about four times in plan and less in height, so that its mountains can be read.
Lay out the royal city as a square of nine li on each side, with three gates in each wall and, within, nine roads running north–south and nine east–west, each wide enough for nine chariots abreast.
side = 9 li · 3 gates × 4 sides · 9 jing + 9 wei · road width = 9 gui (tracks)
With the palace at the centre facing south, place the ancestral temple on its left (east) and the altar of soil and grain on its right (west); put the court in front and the market behind, each one fu (a hundred paces) square.
Find true north and south with a plumb-lined post and the shadows of sunrise and sunset, checked by the pole star; then turn the principal hall of every compound to face south.
Run the city wall along the crests of the four inner mountains, so that the land itself is the rampart, and open the great gates where the ridges dip to let the roads in: east, west, south and north, with four lesser gates between.
c. 18 km of wall (1396) · 4 great gates + 4 lesser gates
Build long ranges of shops at public expense along both sides of the main east–west street, let them to licensed merchants trade by trade, and ring the bell at the crossing to open and close the city.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Mountains behind, water before: the geomantic site”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/hanyang-pungsu. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.